RIYADH: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been assassinated in Iran, the Palestinian group said.
Iran's state television announced the killing early Wednesday.
A statement from Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Haniyeh and a security guard were ambushed at their residence and an investigation is now underway.
Haniyeh, who was head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Hamas, traveled to Iran for the swearing-in ceremony of reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian.
The 62-year-old Palestinian leader had previously met Pezeshkian and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, said: “This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a serious escalation that seeks to violate the will of Hamas and our people and achieve false goals. We confirm that this escalation will fail to achieve its objectives.”
“Hamas is a concept and an institution and not people. Hamas will continue on this path regardless of the sacrifices, and we are confident of victory.”
Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, the head of Yemen's Houthis, said: “The targeting of Ismail Haniyeh is a heinous terrorist crime and a flagrant violation of laws and ideal values.”
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after the group carried out a deadly raid on settlements outside the Gaza Strip on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking hostages back into the Palestinian enclave.
Soon after, Israel launched a devastating military attack on Gaza and has since killed more than 40,000 people, mostly civilians.
Both sides have been trying to negotiate a deal to release the hostages, which would include an end to fighting, with the help of the US and regional negotiators.
The killing comes amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, which has been blamed for an attack on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 children over the weekend.
On Tuesday evening, Israel struck a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon, saying it killed Fuad Shukr, the head of Hezbollah's military operations room, which Israel said was responsible for the attack on the Golan Heights, an allegation the Lebanese group deny.
Israel, which has yet to comment on Haniyeh's killing, has previously carried out assassinations in Iran of key figures for the Islamic republic's nuclear program.
In 2021, Israel assassinated Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's top nuclear scientist.
But since the Gaza war, Israel has carried out targeted attacks on key Hamas and IRGC figures, including Saleh Al-Arouri, a leader of the Palestinian group.
In April, Iran said its consulate in Damascus was destroyed and a top general was killed in an attack Tehran blamed on Israel.
Shortly thereafter, Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel, but all were shot down. Israel responded by attacking places in Isfahan.
Further escalation between the two sides was averted through diplomacy, but Israel continued to attack Iranian affiliates in Syria.
The scale of Israel's military response to Hamas attacks has been condemned, with the International Court of Justice agreeing that there could be a possible case where the country engaged in acts of genocide.
Israel has also been accused of collective punishment and using starvation as a weapon in the fight against the militant group.
